07/01/2013

The archive contains older posts which may no longer reflect my current views.

Thoughts: Inverse influence.

When the influencer becomes the influenced.

Inverse influenceI have written before about how we might "play a role" on social networks based on what is expected of us.

Influence is normally considered as the ability to affect the thoughts, actions and ideas of others but what if those actions create a feedback loop and thus affect our own behaviour?

Inverse influence

We may seek to influence and, in this regard, are reliant on the responses of our audience to determine what is popular or where our expertise appears to lie.  Problems arise when we allow ourselves to be unduly driven by audience response.

By reacting to our audience - and placing too great an emphasis on its feedback - we are in danger of becoming the ones influenced where the actions we seek to influence may instead determine our path.

Image by Sean MacEntee (flipped)